Electronic wrist watch with alarm

ABSTRACT

An electronic wrist watch with an alarm has a buzzer provided on the outside of a watch case, a perforated cover which covers said buzzer, an excitation circuit which drives said buzzer, apparatus for operating the excitation circuit at some predetermined time, and a small-size dry cell battery for supplying the oscillating power of said buzzer. The cover is coextensive with the watch case.

nited States Patent [191 [111 3,760,53 Tsuruishi 1 1 Sept. 25, 11973ELECTRONIC WRIST WATCH WITH Primary ExaminerGeorge H. Miller. Jr.

ALARM [75] Inventor: Yuki Tsuruishi, Suwa,Japan [73] Assignee: KabushikiKaisha Suwa Seikosha,

Tokyo, Japan [22] Filed: Feb. 17, 1972 [21] Appl. No.: 227,107

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Feb. 18, 1971 Japan 1. 46/7159[52] US. Cl. 58/57.5 [51] Int. Cl. G04b 23/12, GO4c 21/34 [58] Field ofSearch 58/575, 90 R [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS3,577,876 5/1971 Spadini 58/575 Attorney-Eric H. Waters et a1.

[5 7] ABSTRACT An electronic wrist watch with an alarm has a buzzerprovided on the outside of a watch case, a perforated cover which coverssaid buzzer, an excitation circuit which drives said buzzer, apparatusfor operating the excitation circuit at some predetermined time, and asmall-size dry cell battery for supplying the oscillating power of saidbuzzer. The cover is coextensive with the watch case.

2 Cflaims, 4 Drawing Figures i ELECTRONIC WRIST WATCH WITH ALARM FIELDOF THE INVENTION BACKGROUND Conventional alarm wrist watches are knownwhich are of the mechanical type and are so constructed that a hammerrod strikes a part of a back cover. In these mechanical alarm wristwatches,a spring has to be wound before each usage. Moreover, the soundof the buzzer is weak and unpleasant.

Recently, a mechanical wrist watch has been developed wherein the soundof the buzzer is improved. This new wrist watch comprises a barrel drumand a battery whereby the buzzer is electrically driven. This wristwatch is large in size,expecially in thickness, as a result of which itsvalue is greatly reduced.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION An object of the present invention is to eliminatethe above disadvantages and to provide a wrist watch with very greatappeal.

Another object of this invention is to provide an improved electronicwrist watch which has a very smallsize buzzer which is used as an alarmand which is characterized by good water resistance.

To achieve the above and other objects of the invention there isprovided an alarm timepiece comprising a case provided with an internalenclosure and including a portion defining an external recess, therebeing an alarm in such recess and there being moreover provided timingmeans in the aforesaid enclosure along with power means, connectingmeans extending through said portion of the case and connecting thepower means and alarm.

According to a feature of the invention, said connecting means extendsin water-tight relationship through the aforenoted portion.

The timing means may be advantageously operatively associated with thepower means to control the same. Furthermore, there may advantageouslybe provided in accordance with -a further feature of the invention aperforated cover over the above-mentioned recess which cover shields thealarm and is coextensive with the casing exclusive of the aforementionedportion.

The alarm may preferably be a buzzer including at least one perforatedpart for facilitating noise transmission in conjunction with theabove-mentioned perforated cover.

According to the invention the power means may be coupled to the timingmeans for driving the same.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention the above-mentionedcover is held to the casing by a screw fastener. Still further, theabove-mentioned power means may include a transistor circuit foroperating the alarm and timing means, such circuit including a battery,an oscillating circuit section including a transistor and a buzzerdriven by this circuit section, there being furthermore provided aswitch controlled by the timing means and controlling the circuitsection. Such circuit may further include a section for driving thetiming means.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. I is a partly cross-sectional viewof an electronic alarm wrist watch incorporating a recessed buzzer system in accordance with one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic circuit diagram illustrating a circuit for drivingthe buzzer and the timing mechanism of the watch in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line III- -III in FIG. l;and

FIG. 4 shows a detail of the watch of FIG. 1 on enlarged scale.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION FIG. 1 shows an outline of the inside of anelectronic alarm wrist watch according to the invention. Element 1 is awatch case. The watch case 1 is provided with a peripheral recess inwhich is accommodated a buzzer 9. Over this recessed portion is attacheda buzzer cover 10 by means of screws 13.

The buzzer cover 10 is provided with a plurality of perforations orholes 11. The cover 10 and case 1 have like curvatures as appears fromFIG. 1.

Element 2 is a balance wheel which is used as the time standard. Atuning fork or a quartz crystal may be used as the time standard inother embodiments. Element 3 is a permanent magnet attached to thebalance wheel 2 and element 4 is a coil. This balance-wheel constructionis well known and need not be further described.

The terminals 1812, 18b and of the coil 4 are connected to a powersource, a detecting condenser and the collector electrode of atransistor 16 for driving the balance wheel respectively. Element 5 is asmall-size dry cell battery and, in this embodiment, one battery servesfor driving both buzzer 9 and balance wheel 2. The positive pole of thebattery 5 is grounded to the plate of the watch and the negative pole ispressed by a spring 6 on insulators 7 and 8. The electrode reaches fromthe insulator 8 to a predetermined position on a base plate 14 of theassociated circuit.

The buzzer 9 is provided with a plurality of small holes 12 in orderthat any generated sound may be easily transmitted therefrom. The buzzer9 is connected to the associated circuit by connecting members 17a, 17band 17c which are good electrical conductors. A transistor I5 isprovided for the buzzer. Since the connecting members 17a, 17b and 17cpass through the case 1, they are insulated from the case 1 by rubber orplastic such that the watch case is sealed in order to maintain the samewaterproof. Therefore, the movement and the circuit are incorporated inthe waterproof case, while the buzzer 9 is incorporated in a ventilatedspace so sound can be effectively transmitted.

FIG. 2 is a diagram of an electronic circuit for driving the buzzer andthe balance wheel of the watch in the embodiment of FIG. 1. In FIG. 2,element 19 is a battery, element 20 is a buzzer, element 211 is atransistor for driving a buzzer, and element 22 is a detecting coil.Also included are a base bias resistor 23, a coil 24 for driving thebuzzer, a balance wheel 25 which constitutes as aforesaid the timestandard for the watch, a transistor 26 forming part of a circuit fordriving the balance wheel, a detecting coil 27, a detecting condenser28, a base bias resistor 29, a coil 30 for driving the balance wheel anda condenser 31 for preventing harmonic-wave oscillation. The detectingcoil 27 and the driving coil 30 are formed as a unit constituting coil 4shown in FIG. 1. The detecting coil 22 and the driving coil 24 areincorporated in the buzzer 9. I

Usually, the circuit for driving the buzzer is inoperative as a switch32 is open. At a time previously set, when the switch 32 is closed byconventional means, the circuit operates and the buzzer begins to ring.The switch 32 can be easily operated for example by a flexible pinattached to an hour wheel (not shown), according to a well knowntechnique.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the watch in FIG. 1 taken along lineIll-III in FIG. 1, element 33 is the front glass of the watch, element34 is the front dial, element 35 is the rear lid and element 36 is thebase plate of the watch movement. The battery has a positive terminalcase part 50 and a negative terminal case part 5b. Positive terminalcase part 5a is electrically in contact with the base plate 36 through aterminal spring 37. Element 38 is a magnetic plate which is fixed inbuzzer 9.

Element 39 is a permanent magnet, element 40 is a vibrating arm andelement 41 is a resonator film. This constitution of the buzzer 9 isalready known. Element 80 is a conductive film on an insulator 8. Spring6 is insulated from base plate 36 by a plastic bushing 42 and insulator7 or 8. The spring 6 is in contact with conductive film 8a. Therefore,negative terminal 5b of the battery 5 is connected with a negative pointof the electronic circuit.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged inside view of the buzzer. Resonator film 41 ispasted with its outside edge to an inside wall of buzzer case 9. Thethree terminal wires are guided out to the connecting memb ers 17a, 17band 17c. These connecting members are covered with insulating tubes 44and fixed at an insulator plate 43 which is mounted inside the buzzercase 9.

The wrist watch according to this inventioncan include an ultracompact-sized speaker. Further, by providing batteries for the buzzerand the watch independently, the sound of the buzzer can be increased.

As described in the above, the electronic alarm wrist watch according tothe present invention has a waterproof construction and only the buzzeris exposed to the outside so that sound can be transmitted efficiently.Further, the circuits for buzzer and watch can be mounted on a commonbase plate and one battery can serve two purposes. Thus, the watch isvery advantageous for practical use.

In the above detailed description of a preferred embodiment of theinvention there has been set forth an alarm time piece comprising a caseprovided with an internal enclosure and including a portion defining anexternal recess, there being an alarm in such recess and timing means insaid enclosure along with a power source. A connecting means extendsthrough the aforenoted portion of the case and connects the power meansand alarm, preferably in watertight relationship.

There has also been shown a wrist watch in which the timing means isoperatively associated with and controls the power means and in whichthere is employed a perforated cover shielding the alarm and locatedover the recess whereat it is fixed by means of screw fasteners. Suchcover is preferably coextensive with the case exclusive of the portiondefining the external recess.

The alarm as has been noted above may be a buzzer or a compact speakeror other such transducer for converting electrical signals into audiblesound. The buzzer may preferably include at least one perforated partfor facilitating noise transmission.

According to further aspects of the embodiment disclosed hereinabove,the power means may be coupled to and drive the timing means and thepower means may include a transistor circuit for operating the alarm andtiming means. Such circuit may include a battery. an oscillating circuitsection including a transistor, a buzzer driven by the circuit sectionand a switch controlled by the timing means and controlling this circuitsection. The aforenoted section may further include a section fordriving said timing means.

There will now be obvious to those skilled in the art that manymodifications and variations of the construction set forth hereinabove.Such modifications and variations will not however depart from the scopeof the invention if defined by the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. An alarm electronic wristwatch comprising a watch case, means in saidcase by which a recess is provided peripherally in said watch case, saidmeans being provided with perforations, a buzzer contained in saidrecess and including an oscillating portion, a buzzer cover contiguouswith said case and covering said recess and said buzzer, said buzzercover being provided with a plurality of perforations in order totransmit sound externally of said watch case, at least one screw fixingsaid cover onto said watch case, an electronic circuit for driving saidbuzzer in said watch case, means for electrically connecting saidcircuit to said buzzer, means for operating said circuit for drivingsaid buzzer at a selectable time, said circuit including a transistorincluding a base electrode, switch means inserted in series with saidbase electrode of the transistor for driving said buzzer, an oscillatorconstituting a time standard for said watch, a driving circuit for saidoscillator, a base plate supporting both said driving circuit for saidbuzzer and said exciting circuit for said oscillator, and a singlebattery for supplying both said circuits with energy.

2. A wristwatch as claimed in claim 1 wherein said cover and case havelike curvatures.

1. An alarm electronic wristwatch comprising a watch case, means in saidcase by which a recess is provided peripherally in said watch case, saidmeans being provided with perforations, a buzzer contained in saidrecess and including an oscillating portion, a buzzer cover contiguouswith said case and covering said recess and said buzzer, said buzzercover being provided with a plurality of perforations in order totransmit sound externally of said watch case, at least one screw fixingsaid cover onto said watch case, an electronic circuit for driving saidbuzzer in said watch case, means for electrically connecting saidcircuit to said buzzer, means for operating said circuit for drivingsaid buzzer at a selectable time, said circuit including a transistorincluding a base electrode, switch means inserted in series with saidbase electrode of the transistor for driving said buzzer, an oscillatorconstituting a time standard for said watch, a driving circuit for saidoscillator, a base plate supporting both said driving circuit for saidbuzzer and said exciting circuit for said oscillator, and a singlebattery for supplying both said circuits with energy.
 2. A wristwatch asclaimed in claim 1 wherein said cover and case have like curvatures.